Cliff Bleszinski Departs Epic

"Today we are saying farewell with warm regards to Cliff Bleszinski, who is departing as Epic’s design director to chart the next stage of his career. During the past two decades, Cliff has helped shape many successful games that have captured the imaginations of millions of players around the world. We are grateful for his influence on Epic’s legacy, from the wild adventures 'Jazz Jackrabbit' to the visceral combat of 'Gears of War.'", writes Epic Games.

''’ive been doing this since I was a teenager, and outside of my sabbatical last year, I have been going non-stop. I literally grew up in this business, as Mike likes to say. And now that I’m grown up, it’s time for a much needed break.''

So he went from loudmouth Cliff who was relevant and making games, to the irrelevant loudmouth Cliff that people can hardly take seriously.

I wonder what will happen to Gears of War now that Cliff has nothing to do with it, we'll see the direction when the next Gears comes out next year, but beyond that lets hope it doesn't go the way of Resident Evil without its original creator, losing all direction and running off the rails.

This is no doubt due to being sick and tired of being forced to make games he doesn't want to. He always said he only wanted to do 3 gears games yet MS threw a ton of money at Mark Rein and Epic and they said yes. That must have hurt him as he wanted it to be a trilogy and leave it locked down. It was his masterpiece. He realises its not about the love of games anymore its all about money..

Well I hope that he starts his own development company. I'm saddened that the industry is losing such a talented design director. I mean no one can argue that Cliff isn't one of the greats. The numbers tell the tale. Here's to hoping he doesn't just completely fall out of the industry and is never heard from again.

Why is it that the last article about him hoping that the next generation of consoles would move away from discs was plagued with people hating him for whatever reason. Yet, now that he's leaving the industry everyone is pretending to be sad about it.

It's like if Capcom were to go bankrupt next week. Everyone here would act heartbroken and start talking about how great all of their games were.

Why would he go from a company like Epic, which is one of the most successful indie companies out there, both critically and financially, all the while being their posterboy--to joining ND, a 2nd party dev company? It just wouldn't make sense, that would be a huge pay cut...

Naughty Dog is owned by Sony and as such can only make games under Sony's guidelines. In other words ND cannot make games for another company UNLESS Sony gives them the OK to do so. EPIC is independent and can make games for any company. Why would Cliffy B leave EPIC a independent Game Studio that has HUGE resources and licenses out its game engine to most game houses for a 1st party company that is under tight wraps with Sony? That woul dbe taking a step backwards for him

EPIC owns the IP to that game, but they are working on a multi platform game. Mike Capps said there's a possibility that PS3 could see it in the future. I would love for PS3 only fans to get Gears as well, it truly is a good franchise that draws you in. I feel the XBOX only fans need a taste of Nathan Drake to understand the love of the franchise. Exclusives are never a good thing IMO.

Wow, I'm literally in shock. Well, Cliffy's just recently gotten married, so, it would seem he just genuinely wants a break, something he hasn't had since his teenage years when he first began Video Games development as a career aspiration.

I'd just like to say, as someone of who's been playing the Gears of War franchise from day one, thank you. It's not only created the best gaming experiences of my life, but via in-game chat and the forums, has introduced me to some great people. It won't be the same without you Cliff.

cliff you are one of the better devs in gaming and enjoy your break i hope when you come back you work with your friends over at ND to make awesome games

watch bonus round on GT and you can tell he was getting tired of the way gaming business has been run with making games more casual friendly. I wouldn't be surprised if he comes back in few years to create his own studio and make pc exclusive games.

So he can actually write his own ticket anywhere. He's made a lot of money for that company and can afford to take a break. If Cliff does go to major developer like ND, Santa Monica, Rockstar, Rocksteady, or Ubisoft...they will be UNTOUCHABLE!! His mind works a mile a minute and is always looking for the next best thing. I saw this coming when he was on the Bonus Round on GameTrailers. He was never at the studio. Seems as if he was on a break from EPIC for some time now, but it's only being mentioned now. Wherever he lands he will be an asset.

Im just saying you could tell he wanted to do something new rather than keep making new entries in the gears franchise. Fortnite was a start in the right direction for him to make new IP's. There's no doubt in my mind like you said he'll be back making great new games in the industry. I mean it is his job lol. He just wants to take some time off and relax. I figure he would just start his own new studio and make multiplatform games

Guys, if you read what he said, he's not leaving Epic, he's leaving the industry... or, at least, taking a break from it.

"I’ve been doing this since I was a teenager, and outside of my sabbatical last year, I have been going non-stop. I literally grew up in this business, as Mike likes to say. And now that I’m grown up, it’s time for a much needed break."